How to Write a Villanelle Poem

By Elisabeth TenBrink Kelley

     Here's an interesting poem type. It uses a type of stanza we haven't talked about before: the tercet. A tercet is simply a stanza with three lines, but they are used so little that Spell Check thinks it isn't a word at all.
     A villanelle has five tercets and then a quatrain, totaling 19 lines. The rhyme scheme is ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA. So you basically have to accept the fact that you're going to be repeating words. Instead of one of my hastily-written example poems, we're going to use a poem old enough that we don't have to worry about copyright.


Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
By Dylan Thomas


Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night,

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night,

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.


     Well, I guess you could probably repeat words a little less than this one does. Anyway, because of the way the rhyme works, this is a very lyrical poetry form, and it sounds very traditional. Personally, I think it's really fun, and will likely attempt my own soon.
     Thank you for reading!


Elisabeth TenBrink Kelley is an aspiring author and poet. To learn more about her, see our About Us page. You can follow her on Twitter here: @ElisabethGTK.

How to Write a Ballade

 Post by Elisabeth TenBrink Kelley, co-founder

     First of all, I'm teaching you how to write a ballade, not a ballad. A ballad has much fewer rules and is much more well-known, though they are both known for their use of refrains. Ballade is pronounced "baa (like the sound a sheep makes) laid". So, on to how to write one of these things.
     A ballade is make up of four stanzas. The first four are long, with seven, eight, or ten lines (but apparently never nine) and the last one is short, four or five lines. Each stanza ends with the same line, or refrain. Now, keep in mind that though the first three stanzas can be seven, eight, or ten lines long, they all must be the same length. Now for my example.


Hot Chocolate

I never had much care for coffee shops
My brother and I, we hated the smell
Of those ground dark beans everyone adores
Some people every day make their stops
At these legal addiction stores, and shell
Out money galore, at which I laugh, except
When sitting at Starbucks, with a cup of hot chocolate

It was a long time before I liked the idea
Of going into any coffee shop, despite
How much my elders loved these stores
Why chose a drink shop over a pizzeria?
Even into my teen years, I had a child's appetite
Which disliked anything of coffee, though I loved
Sitting at Starbucks, with a cup of hot chocolate

More recently I have found the tranquility
Of a coffee shop, is quite nice, though still
I am not so fond of the scent behind the doors
But in them I find there is an odd sincerity
Of musty darkness, and the people who fill
My cup, and so now a new place that I dream
Is sitting at Starbucks, with a cup of hot chocolate

It is another place where I know what to expect
A place to regroup when the world has shoved
And this place I now like is, it would seem,
Sitting at Starbucks, with a  cup of hot chocolate


     Okay, to be clear, you don't have to use the wacky rhyme scheme I used. (If you're confused, I used ABCACD(Ref)  EFCEFG(Ref) HICHIJ(Ref) DGJ(Ref)) (If you're even more confused now, I don't blame you.) Anyways, the only important part of the rhyme scheme was the refrain. Seriously, the rest of it can just not rhyme, as long as you've got the refrain. And normally, you wouldn't mess with the refrain like I did with the added "When" and "Is", but I sort of wrote myself into a corner. Honestly, that's why the rhyme scheme is so weird. I had planned on ABCABC(Ref) DEFDEF(Ref) GHIGHI(Ref), but I couldn't get the third and sixth lines to rhyme and still make sense with the refrain. There's a tip to be learned here. When your rhyme scheme fails: complicate!
     Anyway, I hope I have left you informed rather than confused, and once again, I hope to see the cool poetry you guys come up with.


Elisabeth TenBrink Kelley is an aspiring author and poet. To learn more about her, see our About Us page. You can follow her on Twitter here: @ElisabethGTK.